Food Memory
One of the most vivid food memories I have is not pleasant at all! In fact, I would say that many of my memories that have to do with food aren't really that pleasant.
When I was 14 years old, I began to get sick. We didn't know what was wrong with me but I always had a stomach ache. This progressed for the next two years and I began to eat less and less. When I was 16 I was finally diagnosed with Crohn's disease and put on medications. Once the medications kicked in, I was ok to eat but my relationship with food had been changed unalterably.
This relationship remains to this day. It is not the easiest relationship to explain but it is probably most easily described as a love/hate relationship. I love to cook and I love to eat...except when I don't. I have been in remission for years but, due to multiple surgeries, my eating is still fraught with problems.
Which is possibly why this memory I have from when I was much younger than 14 is so poignant. I often wonder what caused the Crohn's disease and whether I had actually suffered from it from an earlier age. Currently, kids' food knowledge is amazingly diverse and accurate (for the most part) due, I am sure, to the proliferation of information on the internet. Back when I was a kid, though, we knew relatively nothing in comparison to now.
I teach Foods (among other things) and my students are much more food literate than I was at their age. As an adult and a teacher, I am obsessed with diet and nutrition, as well as finding a way not to have such a tumultuous relationship with food. I am also convinced that I can figure out a reason for my Crohn's and maybe trace it back to a defining event.
But, I digress...back to my (gross) food memory.
I was 8 years old, or so, and it was dinner time. When I was a kid, we always had pop in the house. It was a treat but it was also always around. We bought it in glass 1L bottles that don't exist anymore. I wasn't a huge fan of it but it was sweet and a "treat" so I wanted it. The bubbles tickled my throat in a way I didn't like but still. For dinner my mom had made macaroni and cheese from a box. But...it wasn't Kraft dinner. It was another brand that you could buy at the time called Leonardo's and the noodles were fat and the "cheese" sauce was NOT bright orange. I didn't like it. But I choked it down. At about halfway through the bowl, my mom must have noticed that I was basically shoving it in but not enjoying it. She told me I didn't have to eat it but I protested and said that I DID have to eat it because I wanted the pop! So, I choked it down. Drank the tiny glass of pop. Walked up the stairs to get ready for bed. And then puked all over the place!
Have you ever puked up macaroni?? Makes you see how little you actually chewed. to this day, I am still not a fan of macaroni and cheese. :)
When I was 14 years old, I began to get sick. We didn't know what was wrong with me but I always had a stomach ache. This progressed for the next two years and I began to eat less and less. When I was 16 I was finally diagnosed with Crohn's disease and put on medications. Once the medications kicked in, I was ok to eat but my relationship with food had been changed unalterably.
This relationship remains to this day. It is not the easiest relationship to explain but it is probably most easily described as a love/hate relationship. I love to cook and I love to eat...except when I don't. I have been in remission for years but, due to multiple surgeries, my eating is still fraught with problems.
Which is possibly why this memory I have from when I was much younger than 14 is so poignant. I often wonder what caused the Crohn's disease and whether I had actually suffered from it from an earlier age. Currently, kids' food knowledge is amazingly diverse and accurate (for the most part) due, I am sure, to the proliferation of information on the internet. Back when I was a kid, though, we knew relatively nothing in comparison to now.
I teach Foods (among other things) and my students are much more food literate than I was at their age. As an adult and a teacher, I am obsessed with diet and nutrition, as well as finding a way not to have such a tumultuous relationship with food. I am also convinced that I can figure out a reason for my Crohn's and maybe trace it back to a defining event.
But, I digress...back to my (gross) food memory.
I was 8 years old, or so, and it was dinner time. When I was a kid, we always had pop in the house. It was a treat but it was also always around. We bought it in glass 1L bottles that don't exist anymore. I wasn't a huge fan of it but it was sweet and a "treat" so I wanted it. The bubbles tickled my throat in a way I didn't like but still. For dinner my mom had made macaroni and cheese from a box. But...it wasn't Kraft dinner. It was another brand that you could buy at the time called Leonardo's and the noodles were fat and the "cheese" sauce was NOT bright orange. I didn't like it. But I choked it down. At about halfway through the bowl, my mom must have noticed that I was basically shoving it in but not enjoying it. She told me I didn't have to eat it but I protested and said that I DID have to eat it because I wanted the pop! So, I choked it down. Drank the tiny glass of pop. Walked up the stairs to get ready for bed. And then puked all over the place!
Have you ever puked up macaroni?? Makes you see how little you actually chewed. to this day, I am still not a fan of macaroni and cheese. :)
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